The present invention concerns a connector between the handle and shaft of a cane which connector is both shaped for user comfort and is of such material and strength as to provide support without the connector bending.
Canes and particularly walking canes are generally comprised of a shaft and a handle, and the shaft is connected with the handle either directly or through an intermediate connector. The inventor hereof has designed canes including that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,584 which shows a shaft and a handle wherein the handle is directly connected with the shaft. The cane handle and shaft are shaped in various known arrangements. Well known of course and not relevant to the invention are standard canes with a curved over, crook handle at the top end and which is an integral part of the cane shaft. Some canes or walking sticks have no handle at all or are entirely of a straight shaft.
The invention is concerned with a handle that extends generally horizontally, transverse to the shaft of the cane. The user wraps the horizontal handle with four fingers and with the thumb wrapping around the handle in the other direction. The shaft of the cane can meet the handle either midway along the horizontal extension of the handle or more toward one end. For typical canes that have the shaft meeting the handle approximately midway along the length of the handle, when the handle is correctly grasped, the shaft or a connector to the shaft naturally is lodged between the third and fourth fingers. For other typical canes, where the connection of the shaft to the handle is further toward one end of the handle, when the handle is correctly grasped, the shaft or connector is lodged between the second and third fingers. The invention is concerned with shaping the connection between the handle and the shaft, which connection is grasped between either the second and third or the third and fourth fingers, to be sized for not forcing the adjacent fingers of the user apart, to be comfortable, and yet which is strong enough so as to not break or bend under the full weight of a user applied to the handle or during normal use due to bending moments and impact in use.
Canes are known where the region between the shaft and the handle is somewhat narrowed in cross section for various reasons, but not to the extent of and not with the shape of the present invention. That region may be narrowed because the handle includes a downwardly projecting connector which is telescoped into the greater diameter shaft, or as shown in U.S. Pat. DES. 290,784, the shaft may be narrowed a distance down from the handle to give the shaft an interesting profile. Other examples of narrowed shafts appear in the prior art including U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,245 and in published literature on available canes.